Unterkirchberg fort

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Unterkirchberg fort
limes	ORL NN ( RLK )
Route (RLK)	Raetian Limes , older Danube line
Dating (occupancy)	40/45 to around 90/100 AD
Type	Alenkastell
unit	unknown ala
size	200 × 210 m (= 4.2 ha)
Construction	a) wood-earth b) stone
State of preservation	invisible ground monument
place	Illerkirchberg -Unterkirchberg
Geographical location	48 ° 20 ′ 39 "  N , 10 ° 0 ′ 4"  E
height	490  m above sea level NHN
Previous	Fort Riißissen (west-southwest)
Subsequently	Small fort Burlafingen (east north-east)

The Unterkirchberg fort is an early Roman border fort on the older Danube line of the Raetian Limes . It is located with the associated vicus as a ground monument in the area of ​​today's village of Illerkirchberg , a municipality in the Alb-Danube district in Baden-Württemberg .

location

The Unterkirchberg fort is the easternmost Roman military camp of the "Danube Limes" on Baden-Württemberg soil. It is located north of the village of Unterkirchberg under the agriculturally used areas of a spur-shaped plateau immediately west of the Iller . Only from the south is there easy access to the site, which slopes steeply in all other directions and is also delimited by the consecration and the Fischbach.

In ancient times there was a junction between the Donausüdstrasse and the Iller to the north of the fort , which was presumably the responsibility of the camp crew. Furthermore, she was probably entrusted with the control of the Roman road that branches off here on the opposite right bank of the Iller to Cambodunum ( Kempten ) .

Already in pre-Roman times the strategically and geographically favorably located fort site, the “Bleiche” corridor, has been a frequently used settlement site since the Neolithic , as evidenced by the excavation findings and finds .

Research history

The first descriptions of findings and finds come from the middle of the 19th century, the theoretical localization of the fort succeeded in 1907, but it was not until 1926/28 that the assumption was confirmed by archaeological excavations . It took almost half a century for further scientific investigations into the area.

In 1973/74, the southern corner area of ​​the camp and parts of the vicus were excavated as part of a rescue excavation by the Baden-Württemberg State Monuments Office . A large part of the additional knowledge about the fort is due to aerial archeology . Essential components of the theoretical reconstruction of the entire area are based on them.

In older research, the Illerkirchberg fort square was repeatedly associated with the ancient names Viana , Phaeniana or Febianis . Due to recent finds, through which the name Phaeniana could be assigned to the place Faimingen , at least this name should no longer be available for speculations in connection with this fort.

Fort

The military camp of Unterkirchberg was initially laid out as a wood and earth fort in the Claudian era, probably at the beginning of the 1940s of the first century AD. It was an important part of the older Danube line of the Upper German-Raetian Limes . A system of forts and supply routes along the upper Danube. This secured the so-called Donausüdstraße , a Roman trunk road that led from the sources of the Danube to Weltenburg , as well as the Danube itself, which temporarily formed the northern border of the Roman Empire in this area.

With its dimensions of 200 by 210 meters, the fort covers a total area of ​​around 4.2 hectares, making it the largest Roman auxiliary fort in the upper Danube Limes. A total of three construction periods were verified. The first construction period, which can be dated to the time between the first half of the 1940s of the first century AD and the years 69/70 AD, could only be proven by a simple pointed ditch and incomplete outline of the team barracks. At that time the fort was built using a wood and earth construction. In contrast to the neighboring forts, the Unterkirchberg camp was not burned down during the turmoil of the Four Emperor's year 69 AD.

The second Vespasian construction phase has been researched best . Its beginning is due to the end of the first construction period around AD 69/70. Its end eludes precise dating and can only be placed very vaguely at the beginning of the last quarter of the 1st century. A more elaborate trench system could be determined for this period. A double ditch was added to a simple pointed ditch about 5.8 m wide. The fence consisted of a 3.8 m wide wood-earth wall in a wooden boxwork, which was provided with wooden watchtowers at regular intervals. The team barracks in the southern part of the fort were demolished and replaced by a circular wooden structure about 50 m in diameter. It is very likely that this construction is a so-called gyrus , a kind of round corral (pen, gate) for dressing and training horses. Such a gyrus is otherwise only known from The Lunt fort in Baginton, Central England. but from ancient sources we know of such systems. In the course of the second expansion phase, some of the fort buildings were replaced by stone houses. An exact date of this reorganization is not yet certain at the present time, it may have happened around AD 77 to 80 as part of a centrally controlled expansion program which also affected other camps in this border section (see Kastell Riississen and Kastell Emerkingen ).

Just a few traces of the third construction phase have survived, similar to the first. A ditch four meters wide and with a remaining depth of 1.2 m, which was set a good 25 m into the interior of the fort, bears witness to this time. The trench was filled in by the early 2nd century at the latest. With some probability the garrison had been stationed elsewhere around 85 AD when the Limes was moved forward to the Albline in Domitian times. The fort could, however, have been used on a presumably smaller scale until the beginning of the 1st century AD. Whether this was done as a civil or military-logistical base with a reduced crew remains unclear with the current state of research.

Many findings are only known from aerial photographs. With their help, the location of the administrative and religious center, the Principia (staff building) in the center of the fort can be determined. Other buildings, including a possible Valetudinarium (military hospital) or Horreum (granary), as well as the Praetorium (commandant's residence) have been located in this way. Some of these buildings are still beyond reliable interpretation. Only extensive excavations could provide clarity here.

There are no written certificates about the troops stationed in Unterkirchberg. Due to the existence of the gyrus , the finds of harness parts and the size of the fort, which is typical for such a unit, it can be concluded with a fair degree of certainty that it was a mounted unit, probably an Ala quingenaria .

Vicus

Only a few traces point to a vicus , a civil camp village in which the relatives of the soldiers, traders, craftsmen and innkeepers settled. The vicus of Illerkirchberg probably extended south of the camp in the direction of today's location. No statements can be made about the extent and structure of the location at the current state of research. A cemetery could be located 250 m west of the fort along the Donausüdstraße.

Monument protection

The ground monument "Kastell Unterkirchberg" is protected as a registered cultural monument within the meaning of the Monument Protection Act of the State of Baden-Württemberg (DSchG) . Investigations and targeted collection of finds are subject to approval, and accidental finds are reported to the monument authorities.

See also

• List of forts on the Upper German-Raetian Limes

literature

• Marcus Meyer : Illerkirchberg-Unterkirchberg. In: Dieter Planck (Ed.): The Romans in Baden-Württemberg. Theiss, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-8062-1555-3 , p. 134 f.
• Margot Klee : The early Roman fort Unterkirchberg . In: Reinhardt, Wehrberger (ed.): The Romans on the Danube and Iller. New research and findings. Thorbecke, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-7995-0410-9 , p. 31 ff.
• Margot Klee: Illerkirchberg-Unterkirchberg . In: Filtzinger , Planck, Cämmerer (ed.): The Romans in Baden-Württemberg. 3rd edition, Theiss, Stuttgart 1986, ISBN 3-8062-0287-7 , p. 345 f.
• Margot Klee: The early Roman fort Unterkirchberg . Theiss, Stuttgart 1973, ISBN 3-8062-1423-9 , (material booklets on archeology in Baden-Württemberg, 28)

swell

• Diaries and notes from Georg Geisenhof, pastor in Unterkirchberg 1818–1861, parish house in Unterkirchberg and diocesan archive in Rottenburg

Web links

• Thomas Veser: The early Roman fort Unterkirchberg (pdf; 1.2 MB) , extensive presentation on the website of a local architectural office
• The topography of the Unterkirchberg fort near Arachne , the object database of the University of Cologne and the German Archaeological Institute; accessed on December 14, 2017

Remarks

1. ↑ The local priest reported back in the 1840s that Unterkirchberg was once a fortress. Whereby he did not refer to the medieval castle on the Kirchenberg, but specifically named the corridors “Bleiche” and the “Fallenor” as possible locations. The fort itself was located in the “Bleiche” corridor, while the “Fall Gate” was in front of one of the fort gates.
2. ^ Walter Veeck: The Danube Illerkastell Unterkirchberg. In: Germania. Bulletin of the Roman-Germanic Commission of the German Archaeological Institute. Vol. 13, pp. 1-7. Buchner, Bamberg 1929.
3. ^ Siegwalt Schiek: The Roman fort near Unterkirchberg (Illerkirchberg municipality), Alb-Danube district. In: Society for Prehistory and Early History in Württemberg and Hohenzollern e. V. (Ed.): Archaeological excavations 1974. Ground monument maintenance in the administrative districts of Stuttgart and Tübingen. Pp. 26-30. Gentner, Stuttgart 1975.
4. ^ Otto Braasch : aerial archeology in southern Germany. (Small writings on the knowledge of the history of the Roman occupation of Southwest Germany, 30). Württembergisches Landesmuseum, Stuttgart 1983.
5. ^ Gerhard Weber: Faimingen. City of Launingen / Donau, district of Dillingen ad Donau, Schw. In Thomas Fischer and Günter Ulbert : The Limes in Bavaria. From Dinkelsbühl to Eining. Theiss, Stuttgart 1983, ISBN 3-8062-0351-2 , p. 441 ff., In particular p. 443 f.
6. ↑ Gundelfingen ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the website of “Donautal-Aktiv e. V. " 
7. ↑ The end dates of construction periods II and III are controversially discussed in the literature. Klee 1986 and 1996, comes here to partly different results than Meyer 2005.
8. ^ Anne Johnson (German adaptation by Dietwulf Baatz ): Römische Kastelle . Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1987, ISBN 3-8053-0868-X , pp. 211-213.
9. ↑ Description of the fort of The Lunt on the website roman-britain.org ( Memento of the original from October 22nd, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. and romans-in-britain.org.uk ( memento of the original from September 2, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .  
10. ↑ Xenophon : De re equestri (German: About the art of riding . Translated: Richard Keller. 4th edition. Parey, Berlin and Hamburg 1984. ISBN 3-489-62932-9 ); Arrian : tactics (German: "tactics")